On Sunday, May 3, 1998, some 200 people -- most of them Washington State University (WSU) students -- riot during the early morning hours in an area known as College Hill, just west of the WSU campus....
On May 18, 1998, after a three-year investigation, the Department of Justice and the attorneys general of 20 states (later dropped to 19) sue the Microsoft Corporation for violating the Sherman Antitr...
On Saturday afternoon, May 23, 1998, tugboats carefully guide the USS Missouri (BB-63) away from the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, mark...
On June 5, 1998, sixteen rooms in a two-story log building at Soap Lake’s unique Notaras Lodge are gutted by fire. The massive, desiccated, old-growth logs used to build the lodge fuel the fire....
On June 12, 1998, the Tacoma Municipal Belt Line Railway becomes Tacoma Rail, a division of Tacoma Public Utilities. The renaming applies to the electrical and water utilities as well and drops the go...
On June 17, 1998, the SuperSonics elect not to renew George Karl's contract, thereby terminating the relationship between Karl and the team. Karl's replacement is former Phoenix Suns coach Paul Westph...
On July 1, 1998, cooking-show host Jeff Smith, who had achieved national prominence as The Frugal Gourmet, the most popular televised cooking show in history, agrees to pay more than $5 million to sev...
On August 31, 1998, Kenmore, located between Lake Forest Park and Bothell at the north end of Lake Washington (in King County), incorporates. The move to incorporate was in response to the need to man...
On September 12, 1998, Benaroya Hall opens as the new home of the Seattle Symphony. Designed by LMN Architects (Seattle), with acoustics designed by Dr. Cyril Harris, it is named after the Benaroya fa...
In October 1998, Richard Hugo House, an urban writer's retreat, officially opens in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The center for writers is named for Pacific Northwest poet Richard Hugo (1...
On October 27, 1998, the luxury sailing vessel Fantome was caught off the coast of Honduras by Hurricane Mitch and perished with her crew of 31, having previously disembarked her passengers. Originall...
On November 3, 1998, Democratic Senator Patty Murray (b. 1950) wins re-election to the U.S. Senate and state voters approve a ballot measure permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes. An in...
On November 6, 1998, the rusting but still modernistic hulk of the ferry Kalakala makes a triumphant return to Elliott Bay, where it once shuttled cross-sound commuters and awed out-of-town visitors. ...
On November 11, 1998, on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I, the sculpture Doughboy, created by Alonzo Victor Lewis (1886-1946), is re-dedicated at Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Evergreen ...
On November 13, 1998, Congress authorizes the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative, an innovative grassroots and voluntary approach to marine conservation for northern Puget Sound and the ...
On November 17, 1998, Governing Magazine names Seattle Public Utilities director Diana Gale one of America's Public Officials of the Year at a Washington, D. C. banquet attended by President Bill Clin...
On Wednesday afternoon, November 25, 1998, an explosion and fire erupts in the coking plant at the Equilon Puget Sound Refinery in Anacortes, killing six refinery workers who were attempting to restar...
On November 27, 1998, in the worst bus accident of Metro's 25-year history, the driver of a southbound Route 359 express bus is shot twice as the bus begins crossing the Aurora Bridge, which crosses t...
On December 15, 1998, after a decade of planning and a year of construction, Sammamish's first library opens. Part of the King County Library System (KCLS), it is located at 825 228th Avenue NE in the...
On January 11, 1999, state representatives elect both Republican Clyde Ballard and Democrat Frank Chopp to be Speaker of the House of Representatives. The designation of two co-Speakers, instead of th...
On January 15, 1999, the HistoryLink.org website is launched. HistoryLink.org is a free, evolving online encyclopedia of Seattle and King County history, which will soon expand to cover the entire sta...
In December 1999, Comite Pro-Amnistia General Y Justicia Social is organized as a grassroots organization in Seattle to draw attention to the plight of immigrant laborers in Western Washington. The gr...
In 1999, science-fiction writer Octavia Butler (1947-2006) moves to Seattle. Butler, one of the few African American women to achieve significant success as a science-fiction writer, has already had a...
On March 16, 1999, the Department of the Interior lists nine salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest as endangered species. They join 15 other population groups of salmon already so listed. The listing c...